A dozen people have been arrested in dawn raids as police crackdown on foreign criminals who exploit illegal immigrants in the North East.

Operation Kestrel, the biggest of its kind the region has ever seen, started on Monday with police raided several address in Newcastle.

Officers simultaneously swooped on eight addresses in the West End, plus one in Consett, as part of a police operation to crackdown on human trafficking and modern day slavery.

Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland police join forces with Immigration Enforcement, Border Force and the North East Regional Special Operations Unit taking part in dawn raids in Newcastle (Image: Daily Mirror)

Those who bring people into the country, legally or illegally, to work in the sex trade or to be exploited for their labour are in the operation’s cross-hairs.

Twelve people are currently in custody after being arrested on suspicion of modern day slavery offences.

Officers smashed the door off its hinges at one property in Newcastle’s West End and stormed inside, only to find there was nobody home, while another man was led away in handcuffs from a house on the same street.

An arrest is made during dawn raids in Newcastle as part of operation Kestrel targeting foreign national offenders (Image: Daily Mirror)

Nearby, the same routine was being carried out at several other houses, and police warn several more raids will be carried out over the coming fortnight.

Neighbours and children on their way to school watched on as police officers and support teams swarmed down the terraced rows.

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Minutes later, the street was silent again as the marked vans and unmarked vehicles filed away to let the streets return to normality.

Officers were keen to stress that this operation is not in response to any specific threat or spike in crime and does not mean the North East has a particular problem with crimes committed by foreign nationals.

It will be co-ordinated with the assistance of Border Control and Immigration Enforcement staff who have been sent to the North East to work on the project.

Eddy Montgomery, director of immigration enforcement for Immigration Control, said: “Illegal immigration cuts across the work of a number of law enforcement agencies and the wider community and economy.

“That’s why working with the police and wider law enforcement agencies allows us to create a more comprehensive intelligence picture and target more offenders effectively and allow a greater breadth of response and power to take down those who seek to exploit immigration laws and commit crimes in the UK.”

Police at the scene of a raid in Newcastle as part of operation Kestrel targeting foreign national offenders (Image: Daily Mirror)

She added that, as well as focusing on criminals and identifying victims who are in the UK illegally, the force will also crackdown on landlords and employers who entice people to come to the country legally but exploit them once they have arrived.

The Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs are also involved, and charity groups will help deal with victims identified during the operation.

Asst Chief Constable McMillan said that, although this sort of collaboration goes on all the time on an “ad hoc” basis, the forces want to “industrialise it and make it slicker”.

Operation Kestrel is expected to last for two weeks, with more raids expected in the coming days.

Newcastle City Council are also involved in the operation by providing housing support to victims.